Based on an econometric analysis of the data obtained from a survey of meat plants( ) in Iowa in summer 2007, this paper identifies the factors impacting the meatplants’ voluntary adoption of forward and backward traceability activities. The resultssuggest that the ownership type (corporate...

A 2007 survey of US pork producers indicated that nearly two-thirds of US hogs are produced by less than 200 firms marketing 50,000 or more hogs per year. We estimate that 27 operations marketing at least 500,000 hogs a year sold 43% of US hogs in 2006. The next 164 operations marketing between...

After controlling a variety of feeder cattle characteristics and market and sale conditions, weestimate the price premiums for preconditioning (vaccinations and minimum 30 days weaning)claims with and without third-party certification (TPC) as $6.15/cwt and $3.40/cwt, respectively,in Iowa feeder...

Year round grazing systems that utilize stockpiled forage and/or crop residue are oftenpromoted as a way for Northern and Western cow-calf producers to reduce winterfeeding costs and improve overall profitability. This study compared the profitability of aconventional spring calving/summer...